UTEP football to get defensive coordinator, lose 8 players

In the week since spring practice ended, UTEP football lost a few familiar names and picked up a big one.

According to sources in both Huntsville and El Paso, UTEP could announce as soon as Wednesday that Sam Houston State defensive coordinator Steve Stoker is taking the reins of the Miner defense, leaving just a short void since Jeff Choate took a job at Florida earlier this week.

Stoker, who spent the last four seasons as the defensive coordinator for a team that has played in back-to-back FCS national championship games, will come to a team adjusting to the loss of several players who coach Sean Kugler confirmed won't be back.

Most notably, Gage Sharp, who played extensively at linebacker last season and was in line to be a starter, starting kicker Steven Valadez and tailback Xay Williams are among eight players who finished the spring on suspension and won't be back.

UTEP will enter the fall with no scholarship kickers or punters, though Kugler did indicate Enrique Quintana Flores, a freshman walk-on from Bel Air High School, will have the opportunity to rejoin the team.

The other players who won't be back are running backs Corey Callicutt, Isaiah Wimberly and Paul Franklin; defensive lineman Chester Egbim; and offensive lineman Trint Jenkins. None had yet played for the Miners.

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Kugler wouldn't reveal who his defensive coordinator would be other than to say, "I told the players whoever we brought in would be as qualified or better than what we lost."

Stoker would seem to fit that.

More to the point, Sam Houston State coach Willie Fritz has told sources in Huntsville that Stoker won't be back and his name has been connected with UTEP almost since Choate left.

In last year's national runner-up campaign, Sam Houston ranked 28th in the FCS and first in the Southland Conference in total defense. They also led their conference in rushing defense, where they ranked sixth nationally, and in pass efficiency defense.

Before coming to Sam Houston, he spent seven years as the head coach at his alma mater Northwestern State University in Louisiana from 2002-08.

He was a linebackers coach at Sam Houston, but takes over at UTEP for Choate, who wasn't coaching a position.

As to the Miners who won't be back, UTEP went through almost the entire spring without Sharp and Williams. Sharp was 10th on the team in tackles last year with 36 and would seem to be the biggest loss. Williams rushed for 89 yards in nine games and would have vied for playing time as a kick returner this year.

Valadez won the kicking job early last season, but struggled with inconsistency early before a solid close to the season.

Kugler indicated four freshmen punters/kickers will be brought in for fall camp as walk-ons, though a scholarship could be offered to the winner of the competition.

He also confirmed that walk-on linebacker Michael Kelley, a 28-year-old Iraq War veteran who served three tours of duty, has been given a scholarship. However, the NCAA has ruled that because of classes he took while in the Army, he is a senior instead of a freshman.

Four other walk-ons have been identified for scholarships, but Kugler won't announce them until the spring semester is complete.

Kugler also indicated that the Western New Mexico Univer sity campus in Silver City is the leading candidate to host a 12-day fall camp. Alpine is the only other candidate and Kugler said it is likely UTEP will return to its familiar site at Socorro for the 2014 camp.

Bret Bloomquist may be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; 546-6359. Follow him on twitter @bretbloomquist